Police: Chicago man charged in coronavirus-related attack

A Chicago man who allegedly punched a nurse on a city bus after accusing her of trying to give him the coronavirus by coughing on him has been arrested on a felony battery charge, police said Friday.

According to the police department's news affairs office, a 31-year-old nurse told officers that she was riding a Chicago Transit Authority bus in the downtown area on the evening of April 1 wearing scrubs and a mask when she coughed into her elbow.

She said a man, later identified as Quindrell Yarbrough, 29, accused her of trying to infect him with the virus and as he got off the bus, punched her in the face.

According to police, detectives recovered a bus surveillance video that captured the incident. They were able to identify Yarbrough as the suspect and the nurse and a co-worker on the bus both picked Yarbrough out of a photo lineup, telling detectives that he was the man who struck the nurse.

Yarbrough was arrested on one felony count of aggravated battery in a public place on Thursday near his South Side home. His bond hearing was scheduled for Friday.